SANTA CRUZ - A woman who wore a lab coat and posed as a doctor stole credit cards from four nurses at Dominican Hospital on Wednesday.

About 12:30 p.m., a woman with a white coat and a stethoscope around her neck entered a neonatal care unit of the hospital at 1555 Soquel Drive, said Santa Cruz County Sheriff's deputy April Skalland.

The woman accessed a "secure" area and took several credit cards from four victims' purses, Skalland said. The woman was in the building for about four minutes.

The nurses realized they had been ripped off and called authorities about 2:40 p.m.

By that time, more than $4,000 had been spent on the cards at Best Buy and other stores, Skalland said. Some of the stores were in Capitola, and deputies worked with Capitola police on the case Thursday.

Surveillance cameras captured images of the woman in the hospital and also might have caught the woman in the stores, deputies said.

Authorities have not released a description of the woman except to say she was black.

Mike Lee, a spokesman for Dominican Hospital, said its staff is cooperating with law enforcement.

"We are committed to providing a safe environment and are reviewing the incident and related hospital security policies," Lee said. "The safety and security of our patients and staff are our highest priorities."

The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office asks anyone with information to call the investigations division at 831-454-2311 or the anonymous tipline at 831-454-5995.